


Astro, Come Home

by godtrash



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 12:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtrash/pseuds/godtrash
Summary: He is Kabaji, plain and tall. The quietest member of Hyotei's ordinary but extraordinary life.





	Astro, Come Home

People think Kabaji is simple-minded. But he isn't simple. He's just quiet.

When he was younger, before he shot up like a weed and became giant over the summer, people used to ask him why he was so quiet. Ask him to say something for once. Ask him to speak up, raise his voice, or say something absurd because they thought it would be funny.

When he got bigger, they didn’t demand for him to speak anymore. They acted shocked he was capable of speaking, like he was some big dumb giant. When he did talk they found it funny still, but they wouldn’t voice it since they were afraid of him. All because he was big.

Kabaji never found it funny. It just hurt his feelings, because he knew they thought he was stupid or weird, but he was just quiet. He never had a lot to say and his mother always told him don't say things unless you mean them; unless it needs to be said.

Everything else is just noise, really.

He's used to noise as a member of the Hyotei Gakuen tennis club, it seems that all his fellow members can do is generate noise. Whether it's the non-regulars cheers and chants, or Atobe's ever growing fanclub squealing and and wailing, or the screeches of certain regulars getting into another fight over something irrelevant and seemingly inconsequential, Kabaji's time on and off the courts at school is filled with noise.

So he revels in the moments when it’s silent, when he can spend some time to himself in the quiet, with just his knitting needles or his tablet (a birthday gift from Atobe).

Sometimes he signs into social media, even though people would say he doesn’t seem like the type. He quietly likes all Atobe’s posts. He is friends with Hajime Mizuki from St. Rudolph and they speak at length about tea, though no one who knew him would ever believe it.

He is quietly amused over the latest love dramas taking over Hyotei’s student body like some ludicrous soap opera, at least if you believe all of Taki’s posts on the latest hot gossip.

They talk just as much online as they do in real life, maybe more, and he cannot possibly read all those words if he had time to, even. But he keeps up with what he likes, and admires the latest tea set Mizuki has purchased. He looks at Atobe’s latest photos of his dogs, retweeting them for Shishido who will be happy to see them. He scrolls his feed and sees Taki on about Hyotei’s Doubles’ 2 ‘scandalous liasons’ as if everyone doesn’t already know Mukahi and Oshitari are a couple. He’s walked in on a seemingly silent club room enough times to know that much. It’s awkward, but he’s happy for them nonetheless. 

He looks at his teammate’s photos, of everything from the food that they’ve eaten to their beloved family pets. Atobe has a special account just for posting pictures of his menagerie of animals. Kabaji likes these very much. Sometimes he wishes he were allowed a pet at home, but just getting to go to Atobe’s and see all his animals is enough sometimes. He feeds the rabbits and the birds with his big clumsy fingers, and the animals never say he’s too quiet, or demand he speak. 

Atobe is the same way, calmly giving him orders to go getch Jirou since he’s fallen asleep again somewhere but never expecting any smart comments or anything at all except “Usu.”

He likes spending time with Jirou. When he’s awake Jirou talks enough for the both of them, and when he’s asleep all is peaceful and Kabaji can take some time out of his day to knit or draw or whatever takes his fancy. Sometimes Jirou will wake up halfway through, the loose ends of Kabaji’s knitting draped over his skinny form, and compliment the pattern or the colors Kabaji has chosen. He always calls him Kaba-chan and treats him like his adorable junior, even though Kabaji is almost a full foot taller than him and looks far and away from being younger than him. Jirou is the opposite of him, he thinks sometimes, since he seems younger with his round face and cheery voice but at times he’s wiser than anybody else on the whole team, and there’s no one’s opinion Kabaji would trust more save maybe Atobe’s.

He likes it when the regulars chatter noisily in the locker room, even though at times they are grating it fills up the silence in the space between and he sits in the middle of it all, offering up an “Usu.” or a hard look when his opinion is asked for. He never freely gives it, but often Gakuto or Shishido will turn to him in the middle of one of their arguments and ask he take their side. It’s always something petty or silly. Kabaji doesn’t really have an opinion on whether Marvel or DC is better but sometimes he picks one just to watch the other flap around indignant as the other laughs victoriously and says “SEE?” He never tells them he never understood the debate in the first place, only shares a quiet smile with Oshitari who knows better, and goes about his day.

He works in the school garden, digging up the soil to plant new things. He likes to do things with his hands, always keeping them moving and busy. It takes away from the effort of having to think of things constantly, and he thinks maybe that’s why other people run their mouths so much, just to fill the space. It’s not that he’s not always thinking too, but he knows some thoughts are better kept inside, and even if he wanted to tell the world about the feel of the soil in the afternoon sun he knows they wouldn’t understand, or think him strange. 

After his sixteenth birthday he gets a part a time job at a craft store. His sister knew the manager there, and so she went with him to explain some things. They’re all right with him even though he doesn’t talk much, and Kabaji is happy to work there. He knows a lot about sewing and knitting and he can help people pick out the yarn and fabrics they want. The store always smells nice, like fresh pine shavings, and the old lady in charge is kind to him. Everyone is, apart from the occasional rude customer, and usually one of his co-workers will step in to handle them. Beni is his favorite of all his co-workers, although he would never say it out loud so as not to hurt the others’ feelings. 

Beni isn’t a boy like Kabaji, but not a girl either. Beni just is. They always defend Kabaji when some mean customer demands to know why can’t he speak up, and Kabaji gently corrects people when they get Beni’s pronouns wrong. Beni reminds Kabaji of Jirou, warm like the sun and full of energy when they choose to be. He wishes he could tell them both this, but he knows they wouldn’t really understand it. There’s an aura around them, like a golden halo of light wherever they go. Kabaji loves people like that. He wishes he could be more like them sometimes, making friends all over the place and being optimistic about everything. But all he can be is himself, so that’s all he tries to do.

He recalls one day on his break he found Beni crying behind the store, when they were supposed to be cleaning the floors. He stood silently and waited, not sure if he should give them a friendly pat on the back or it would be unwelcome. Finally Beni wiped their eyes and smiled up at him. 

“I was sad, but then I realized I don’t have to be.” They told him. He hadn’t understood what they meant at the time. When Kabaji was sad he could not simply stop. The mood would linger for hours, or days, like a dark cloud over him. He asked Beni how he did it.

“It’s not easy. But I realized it didn’t matter in the end. Because the only one who really knows me is me, but that’s okay. The me that you know and the me that my friends and family know is ok too. It’s different, but still me. Don’t forget that.”

He still didn’t really understand it. He wondered if he wasn’t smart enough. But he kind of got it. He was different to strangers, but he wasn’t bad. Despite what they thought of him, he would always be himself. And that was comforting, no matter what anyone else thought, he was Kabaji, plain and simple.

He’s happy in the places he occupies in the world, small though they may be. He’s content when he’s knitting a scarf to wrap the whole of the Hyotei regulars in because sometimes they need it. He’s happy when he’s feeding the animals outside the school in the courtyard, watching them scurry to and fro with their own little lives far removed from human troubles. He’s glad when he’s eating dinner with his family, and when tell each other about their days, they look at him with just a smile and wait for him to say it was good.

And it is.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
